Michael C. Warren

One of the hardest things I have seen teachers do is to incorporate technology into their class lesson.  As a technology leader or facilitator ISTE standard III tells us we must be able to design, model, and apply ideas for implementing technology to maximize student learning. While every classroom in our school has at least 1 student computer it is not uncommon that it is hardly used.  This is something I plan to work on at our school to help implement change.  Studies tell us that students spend approximately 8 or more hours using electronic media, often using more than one form of media at any given time.  A majority of students often have to reduce their technology usage when they step into the school building. I find that schools tread on the side of extreme caution before they widely decide to allow a form of technology into school, often allowing the technology once it has become out of date. “As technology facilitators and leaders implement TF/TL III, they will find a strong disconnect between the ways technology is used for teaching and learning and the ways students use technology in their personal lives” (Redish and Williamson, 2009).  With a majority of students having access to one or more of smart phones, text messaging, Internet, and email devices, the are able to share and access information often more readily than they are at school. In the classroom they are often limited to a single perspective provided by a book and professor and are told not to use sources such as wikipedia because the content is not as reliable as the book or books that are in the library, which are often outdated.  Students want to learn often faster than what information is being fed to them on a scheduled classroom basis. “The high quality of the Internet education process means the molding of abilities to learn” (Arsham, 2002)

When technology is introduced into the curriculum in an affective manner students should feel engaged, and ready to learn.  It is an important step for a dedicated technology facilitator be available at each campus to offer training and assistance in integrating technology into their lesson.  The technology facilitator would help the teacher understand how the technology could be used to offer a broader range of learning opportunities for the students.  One key aspect that I would focus on is keeping abreast of current and upcoming technologies and research what potential it offers the students and teachers. As an example, our school recently added television screen in public areas for a continuous powerpoint presentation of daily information. Wireless connectivity was recently added for teachers, and a new Internet lesson management system and website has been started with some teachers offering limited activity on their pages.  In many cases these are technologies that are several years behind.

This standard is a very important standard because this is where technologist and educators have to start working together. An IT manager or tech support person may be able to make sure everything works well, but it is the educational technologist job to relate between the technology department and the educators. Of translating between the two the desires and goals to implement the best possible technology options for classroom lessons or for training and implementing tools to assist in teaching.  If I were in the position I would focus completely on communicating between the IT department and doing daily rounds to various parts of the campus to make sure everything is working efficiently and to make sure that all equipment is being used in the best possible manner.  “Even with better curriculum resources and documentation, educators will need ongoing professional learning opportunities providing instruction in best practices in implementing student technology standards” (Redish and Williamson, 2009)

As part of our assignment in EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology we created several projects in which we used technology as part of the lesson plan. Our first assignment had us creating a digital book in which we used to help teach students a topic. This provided multiple unique ways in which students could get information about the topic, including reading and listening.  Our group assignment had us creating a cross curriculum project where students had to use technology to create a brochure or a web page to tell about a historic event.

References

Redish, T., & Williamson, J. (2009). Chapter Three. ISTE’s Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What Every K-12 Leader Should Know and Be Able to Do (p. 58). Eugene,OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Arsham, H. (2002). Impact of the Internet on Learning and Teaching. USDLA Journal, 16(3). From http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAR02_Issue/article01.html

Redish, T., & Williamson, J. (2009). Chapter Three. ISTE’s Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What Every K-12 Leader Should Know and Be Able to Do (p. 63). Eugene,OR: International Society for Technology in Education.